Manufacture of shoe bottom units



MANUFACTURE OF SHOE BOTTOM UNITS Filed June 10, 1956 v e :Mm I avlllllllml lmlr v I 2 tapes being left Patented Apr. 6, 1937 UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFIC signor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation,

Paterson, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application June 10, 1936,Serial No. 84,492

11 Claims.

This invention relates to improved methods of making shoe bottom unitsand to improvements in shoe bottom units as articles of manufacture. Theinvention is herein illustrated with reference to the manufacture ofreinforced insole units of the type comprising an insole, a heel andshank reinforcing piece which is secured to the lower or lasting side ofthe insole, and a metallic shank stiffener which is interposed betweenthe insole and the reinforcing piece.

One object of the invention is to provide a reinforced shoe bottom orinsole unit of the abovementioned type which is adapted for use in. themanufacture of shoes the uppers of which are cement lasted in accordancewith a method such, for example, as that disclosed and claimed in UnitedStates Letters Patent No. 1,932,545, granted October 1, 1933, uponapplication of George Goddu. It should be understood, however, that theutility of my invention is not limited to the manufacture of shoes ofthat type.

With this object in view the invention provides an improved method ofmaking reinforced insole units which consists in securing one endportion of a narrow strip of material to a shank reinforcing piece inposition to enable that portion to serve asa lip to which a shoe uppermay be secured and to leave the remaining portion of the strip extendingforwardly beyond the front end of the reinforcing piece, securing thereinforcing piece to the shank portion of an insole thereby providing areinforced insole unit having a lipped shank portion, and thereaftersecuring the forwardly extending portion of the strip to the forepart ofthe insole in position to serve as a lip to which the upper may besecured in the forepart of the unit. As herein exemplified, two tapes ofthe proper lengths to extend along the marginal portions of the shankand forepart of an insole unit are aranged with their rear portionsoverlying the shank portion of a fiat heel and shank reinforcing pieceand the rear portions of the tapes are stitched to the reinforcing piecein positions to serve as lasting lips, the front portions of theunattached to the reinforcing piece and extending forwardly beyond itsfront end. The reinforcing piece is then secured by means of adhesive tothe heel and shank portion of an insole'with a longitudinally curvedshank stiffener interposed between those parts and the shank portions ofthe insole and the reinforcing piece are molded to shape them tocorrespond to the shape of the bottom of a last. Finally, the unattachedforward portions of the tapes are stitched to the forepart of the insolein positions forcing piece having secured thereto the rear portions oftwo strips or tapes which are to consti-i tute lasting lips;

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view, on an enlarged scale, taken along theline IIII of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of my improved reinforced insole unit as itappears after the heel and shank reinforcing piece has been secured tothe insole but before the forward portions of the strips which are tobeen secured to the. forepart of the insole;

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 but showing the completed insoleunit;

Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view on an enlarged scale taken along theline V-V of Fig. 4; and

Fig. 6 is a view like Fig. 2 but showing a modified arrangement of thetapes.

I As shown in the drawing, my improved reinforced insole unit comprisesa full-length insole ll] of relatively flexible material, such asleather, a heel and shank reinforcing. piece l2 of relatively stiffmaterial, such as leatherboard or fiberboard which is secured to thelower or lasting side of the insole, a narrow metallic shank stiffener Mwhich is interposed between the heel and shank piece l2 and the insolel0, and two strips or tapes l6, l6 which are stitched to the lower sideof the insole unit in positions to constitute lastinglips. The heel andshank reinforcing piece I2 is cut to correspond in outline to that ofthe heel and shank portion of the insole and is preferably secured tothe insole by means of cement after the shank stiffener I 4 has beenlaid in proper position upon the insole. Advantageously, the insole, thereinforcing piece and the shank stiffener may be assembled andrelatively located and the several parts preliminarily secured togetherby the use of an assembling machine such as that disclosed and claimedin copending application-for United States Letters Patent, Serial No.753,367, filed November 16, 1934, in the name of J. M. Whelton. Asillustrated, also, the shank portions of the reinforcing piece and theinsole are molded both longitudinally and transverselyto the reinforcingexplained with reference constitute the lasting lips have v correspondto the longitudinal and transverse curvatures of the bottom of a lastand the molding pressure is utilized to complete the adhesive attachmentof the reinforcing piece to the insole. 5 Conveniently this molding andattaching operation may be performed by the use of a molding machinesuch as that disclosed and claimed in United States Letters Patent No.2,065,465, granted December 22, 1936, upon application of J. M. Whelton.

In some cases it is practicable to stitch the tapes Hi to the insoleunit after the several parts of the unit have been assembled and securedtogether but in many cases it is impracticable 5 to do so. In the caseof an insole unit having a narrow shank portion, such as the unit shownin the drawing; for example, it is necessary that the lines of stitchingbe located quite close together in the narrow shank portion of the unitso that the tapes will be suitably spaced from the edge of the unit toconstitute lasting lips. However, the space between the lines ofstitching is frequently less than the width of the shank stiffener andin such cases, of course, the shank stiffener would interfere with thestitching operation.

In accordance with the present invention it is proposed to stitch therear portions of the tapes to the reinforcing piece before thereinforcing piece has been assembled with an insole and a shankstiffener and to leave the forward portions of the tapes extendingforwardly beyond the reinforcing piece so that they may later bestitched to the insole with which the reinforcing piece is to beassembled.

In carrying out my improved method of making insole units, as hereinexemplified, two tapes l6 are cut to the proper lengths to enable themto extend the desired distances along the shank and forepart of aninsole unit and the tapes are arranged, one at a time, with their rearextremities located relatively to the reinforcing piece, as shown inFig. 1. The tapes are then secured by means of stitches H! to thereinforcing piece, the stitching being accomplished by the use of anysuitable straight needle sewing machine, preferably, though notnecessarily, provided with suitable gaging means for spacing thestitching and the tapes in the desired spaced 5o relation to the edge ofthe insole. As shown, the forward portions of the tapes are leftunattached to the reinforcing piece and. extend forwardly beyond thefront edge of the latter. The lower side of the reinforcing piece andone side of the heel and shank portion of the insole are then coatedwith cement, for example latex, and after the latex has becomesufficiently tacky the shank stiffener I4 is properly positioned uponthe coated side of the insole and the reinforcing piece 0 is laid,coated face down, upon the insole over the shank stiffener and the partsare pressed together with sufiicient pressure and over a sufficient areato hold them firmly in place. Thereafter, the heel and shank portion ofthe unit is 35 molded, as already described. As illustrated in Figs. 1to 5, the tapes lie substantially flat against the surface of thereinforcing piece, even in the narrowest portion of the unit, so thatthey have .no tendency to be crumpled or undesirably dis- 70 torted bythe molding operation. If desired, the tapes may be stitched even closertogether in the narrow shank portion of the reinforcing piece, in whichcase the portion of the tapes at the inner sides of the lines ofstitching may be 75 caused to assume upstanding positions, as indicatedin Fig. 6. In such a case, when the insole unit is being molded, theupstanding portions of the tapes will be deflected to one side or theother and temporarily flattened out more or less by the molding pressurewithout, however, rendering them any less capable of performing thefunctions of lasting lips.

After the insole unit has been molded the portions of the tapes whichextend forwardly beyond the reinforcing piece are secured, one at atime, to the forepart of the insole by means of stitches 20, thestitching operation upon each tape starting at the front edge of thereinforcing piece where the lines of stitching l8 terminate andproceeding forwardly to the front ends of the tapes. As in the case ofstitching the tapes to the reinforcing piece, the stitching operationmay be performed by a su'table sewing machine equipped with gagingdevices for locating the stitching and the tapes at the desireddistances from the edge of the insole.

By stitching the rear portions of the tapes to the reinforcing piecebefore the latter is assembled with the insole and later stitching theforward portions of the tapes to the insole, as above described, it ismuch easier to perform the stitching operation since both thereinforcing piece and the forepart of the insole are flat while thetapes are being stitched thereto and in no case do any of the stitchesextend through more than a single layer of shoe bottom material.Moreover, as best shown in Fig. 5, the tapes may be stitched closertogether along the narrow shank portion of an insole unit than would bepossible if the shank stiffener were assembled with the other parts ofthe unit at the time of the stitching since, in the latter case, thepresence of the shank stiffener might interfere with or prevent theperformance of the stitching operation.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent of the United States is: I

1. That improvement in methods of making re-' inforced insole unitswhich consists in securing one end portion of a narrow strip of materialto a shank reinforcing piece in position to enable said portion to serveas a lip to which a shoe upper may be secured and to leave the remainingpor-, tion of the strip extending forwardly beyond the front end of saidreinforcing piece, securing said reinforcing piece to the shank portionof an insole thereby providing a reinforced insole unit having a lippedshank portion, and thereafter securing said forwardly extending portionof said strip to the forepart of the insole in position to serve as alip to which the upper may be secured in the forepart of the unit.

2. That improvement in methods of making reinforced insole units whichconsists in securing one end portion of a narrow strip of material to ashank reinforcing piece in position to enable said portion to serve as alip to which a shoe upper may be secured and to leave the remainingportion of the strip extending forwardly beyond the front end of saidreinforcing piece, securing said reinforcing piece to the shank portionof an insole by means of adhesive and molding said piece and the shankportion of the-insole to shape said parts to correspond to the shape ofthe bottom of a last thereby providing a reinforced insole unit having amolded and lipped shank portion, and thereafter securing said ;for-.w-ardly extending portion of said strip to the forepart of the insole inposition to serve as a. h

lip to which the upper may be secured in tho forepart of the unit;

3. That improvement in methods of making reinforced insole units whichconsists in securing one end portion of a narrow strip of material to ashank reinforcing piece in position to enable said portion to serve as alip to which a shoe upper may be secured and to leave the remainingportion of the strip extending forwardly beyond the front end of saidreinforcing piece, relatively positioning an insole, a shank stiffenerand said reinforcing piece with the shank stiffener interposed betweenthe reinforcing piece and the insole, securing said parts together insaid relative positions by means of adhesive and molding saidreinforcing piece and the shank portion of the insole to correspond tothe shape of the bottom of a last thereby providing a reinforced insoleunit having a molded and lipped shank portion, and thereafter securingsaid forwardly extending portion of said strip to the insole in positionto serve as a lip to which the upper may be secured in the forepart ofthe unit.

4. That improvement in methods of making reinforced insole units whichconsists in securing to one side of a heel and shank reinforcing piecethe rear portions of two tapes in positions to serve as lasting lips andleaving the other portions of said tapes extending forwardly beyond saidreinforcing piece, securing said reinforcing piece to the lower side ofthe shank portion of an insole, and thereafter securing said forwardlyextending portions of said tapes to the forepart of the insole inpositions to serve as lasting lips.

5. That improvement in methods of making reinforced insole units whichconsists in securing to one side of a heel and shank reinforcing piecethe rear portions of two tapes in positions to serve as lasting lips andleaving the other portions of said tapes extending forwardly beyond saidreinforcing piece, securing said reinforcing piece to the lower side ofthe shank portion of an insole, and thereafter locating the forwardlyextending portions of said tapes in positions to serve as lasting lipsin the forepart of the unit and securing said portions to the insole bystitching forwardly from the front end of said reinforcing piece alongthe unattached portions of said tapes.

6. That improvement in methods of making reinforced insole units whichconsists in stitching the rear portions of two tapes to a flat heel andshank reinforcing piece in positions to serve as lips to which a shoeupper may be secured and leaving the other portions of said tapesextending forwardly beyond said reinforcing piece, se-

curing said reinforcing piece to an insole with a. shank stiffenerinterposed between said parts and molding the shank portions of thereinforcing piece and the insole to shape said portions to correspond tothe curvature of the bottom of a last, and thereafter stitching theforwardly extending portions of said tapes to the forepart of the insolein positions to serve as lips to which an upper may be secured in theforepart of the unit.

7. A reinforced insole unit comprising an insole, a reinforcing piecesecured to the lower side of the shank portion of the insole, and a lipextending along the lower side of said insole forepart and said shankreinforcing piece to which a shoe upper may be secured, said lip beingdirectly secured to said shank reinforcing piece by fastenings which donot enter the insole.

8. A reinforced insole unit comprising an insole, a heel and shankreinforcing piece secured to the lower side of the insole, and a lastinglip comprising a tape secured to the insole in the forepart of the unit.and secured to the re inforcing piece by fastenings which extend onlythrough the tape and through the reinforcing piece in the shank portionof the unit.

9. A reinforced insole unit comprising an insole, a heel and shankreinforcing piece cemented to the lower side of the insole, and a lipfor receiving the lasting allowance of a shoe upper and secured to thelower side of the unit by stitches extending through the lip and theinsole in the forepart of the unit and only through the lip and thereinforcing piece in the shank portion of the unit.

10. A reinforced insole unit comprising an insole, a heel and shankreinforcing piece secured to the lower side of the insole, and a tapestitched to the lower side of said unit, the stitches extending throughthe tape and the insole in the forepart of the unit and only through thetape and the reinforcing piece in the shank portion of the unit, therebyproviding a lip to which a shoe upper may be secured.

11. That step product in the manufacture of reinforced insole unitswhich comprises a shank reinforcing piece having a tape stitched theretoto serve .as a lasting lip in the shank portion of an insolefwith whichsaid shank piece is to be assembled to provide a reinforced insole unit,said tape extending a substantial distance forwardly beyond the frontend of said shank piece for subsequent attachment to the'insole to serveas a lasting lip in the forepart of the unit.

RAYMOND E. HOPKINS.

